Kathasutra
The story programme — Panchatantra, Jataka and local legend, told aloud in the classroom.
Kathasutra is where a school will begin with us, because it needs almost nothing: a teacher, forty minutes, and a story worth telling.
What happens in the room
A teacher reads a story aloud — not from a textbook, and not for comprehension questions afterwards. The children act out a scene, argue about who was right, and then retell it in their own words. The retelling is the point. A story a child has told once is a story they own.
The library is being collected now, drawn from the Panchatantra, the Jataka tales, the epics, and — the part we care most about — local legends from the districts we work in, many of which have never been written down at all.
Why stories first
Story is the oldest teaching technology and still the best one. It carries ethics without lecturing, history without dates, and language without drills. It also has the practical advantage of costing nothing to deliver, which means a school with no budget can still run the full programme.
What a school gets
- The story library in the school’s own language, free
- Printed story cards, one set per classroom
- A two-day teacher orientation
- Termly sessions with a visiting storyteller where we can reach
Schools interested in Kathasutra can write to us — the curriculum is free and always will be.
